Come and see what God has done! See what wonderful things he has done for his people!

Psalm 66:5

We will collect our Five-Cents-a-Meal offering again on August 18, at both services. The suggested offering is $13.65 per person, or about a nickel for each meal you eat in a three-month period. Your contribution will provide hunger relief through both local and global ministries. Last year our Five-Cents-a-Meal offerings enabled FPC to help feed the hungry in Bristol through Haven of Rest and Bristol Emergency Food Pantry, and in Ethiopia and Brazil through our missions in those countries. Please be generous!

Our acolytes will resume their role in our 11:00 traditional worship service Sunday, September 8. We would like to add members to our team before then! If you and your child are interested in serving in this capacity, please let Pastor Sam know by email at [email protected]. The program is open to any child in grades 5 -12. Our first orientation will be held Sunday, August 25, at 12:30, directly after the traditional worship service. Please see the following schedule:

 

Acolyte Orientation & Practice
Sunday, August 25, 12:30 p.m.	Acolyte Team Orientation
Wednesday, August 28, 7:15 p.m.	Acolyte Rehearsal with Choir
Sunday, September 1, 12:30 p.m.	Acolyte Final Rehearsal
Sunday, September 8, 11:00 a.m.	Acolytes Resume Worship

The sound of handbells will ring out again when rehearsals resume Wednesday, August 14. We will practice from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. in the handbell room upstairs. I'm looking forward to another year of music making with returning members and some new faces. Please email or call me ( [email protected], 276-696-9091) to inquire about joining this fun-loving group. We practice each Wednesday evening and play an average of once a month. The ability to read music is very helpful, but if you don't, we can teach you. A modest amount of coordination is also helpful, but if you're less than graceful, no problem. The ability to COUNT, however, is very, VERY important! Handbells add an element to worship that can't be duplicated in any other way. Once you get in the swing of ringing, I think you'll get hooked! / Bob Greene

Please join the Evangelism & Outreach Committee in welcoming Lawrence (Larry to us!) Sharrett back to FPC this August. He will be in Bristol for less than a week, sharing a new mission focus and where God is leading his family in ministry. He will share the update with the entire church after the 11:00 service on Sunday, August 18, in the Fellowship Hall.

Since Larry finished seminary in Chicago, he and Courtney have served two years in Sofia, Bulgaria. The following is a synopsis of the status of their ministry and some important changes.

Larry's affiliation has shifted from The Antioch Partners to Cyclical, Inc. Cyclical is an ecumenical church-planting organization, based in California, that has been coaching Larry during the past year. He is now the Director of Cyclical Southeastern Europe, which includes Bulgaria. This will allow him to network among experienced church planters, including a young Presbyterian church plant in Athens, Greece, that has experience working in a predominantly Orthodox culture.

And there is more about Athens! Courtney has been working on her psychology degree online from Trinity International University, which is not satisfying her social, emotional, and educational needs and goals. As a result, she is enrolling at the American College of Greece in Athens for the fall semester. ACG offers a high-quality English program in counseling and psychology from which she will earn her BA. At the same time, Larry will be earning an MS in counseling and psychotherapy from ACG, which will sharpen his pastoral counseling skills in a culturally credible context. Scholarships and grants will fund 90% of Larry's and 50% of Courtney's expenses.

They are maintaining their apartment in Sofia and will travel back frequently to maintain contact and credibility with their Bulgarian circle. They will return there in two years to continue the ministry toward starting a new worshiping community.

Those in our church family who would like to support Larry and Courtney should send checks to:

Cyclical Inc.

64 N. Raymond Ave. Ste. 240

Pasadena, CA 91103

(Designate "Lawrence Sharrett, Cyclical Southeastern Europe" on the memo line.)

An online option is also available now at "Cyclical Online Giving for Sharretts." Steps for giving online:

We will have other opportunities to connect with Larry while he is in Bristol:

Invite your friends and come to FPC's Fall Student Retreat at Doe River Gorge in Hampton, TN! This special weekend for students in grades seven through twelve is scheduled for August 31 through September 2. It will include wild fun, adventure in the great outdoors, worship, and bonding with your church family. We will leave Saturday and return Monday afternoon. Join us for a weekend of fun and fellowship with your friends!

If you register with a deposit by this Sunday, August 11, you will receive a T-shirt, and the total cost of the trip will be $150. After August 11, the price will increase to $175 and a T-shirt size cannot be guaranteed. Register at the link below and pay the $50 deposit. Turn in money to the church or pay online at https://onrealm.org/fpcbristol/Give.

Ready to go? ==> REGISTER HERE <==

First Presbyterian Church invites all students in seventh to eleventh grade to join our fall confirmation class, which begins Sunday, September 8. In this course, we will learn, discuss, and ask hard questions about faith, God, and more. The confirmation class prepares students for baptism or to confirm the vows of their baptism by professing their faith in Jesus Christ.

The confirmation journey is a two-year experience. At the conclusion of the two years, students will be invited to confirm their faith and join the church. Confirmation class will take place on Sunday mornings from 10:00 till 10:45 in the Big Room in the Student Ministries wing. Each class builds on the information from the previous week, so class attendance is very important. We ask you to make a commitment to attend every Sunday. If you miss a class, we can help you make it up, but we ask all confirmands to take this commitment seriously.

As you learn through discussion and activities, you will find the confirmation journey to be a time of both individual growth and relational growth with your church family. You will play games, watch videos, and meet friends in new ways. And in addition to your teachers, you will have two mentors, an adult and a high school student, to help you as you go through the process. If you are interested in participating in confirmation, contact Katie Arnold at [email protected].

This Sunday we will celebrate the start of our new program and church school year. We'll gather on the grounds, weather permitting. Weather or not, Ron Fox (August 7 -10) will make sure the lawn is prepared for our happy feet. Larry Sharrett's mission presentation is coming up the following Sunday, August 18, and David Moore (August 14 -17) has made it his mission to cut all that grass down to size for the occasion. Come out and admire their work, celebrate, and learn!

	Martin Shaw

Sunday's music: Our anthem this week is "With a Voice of Singing" by Martin Shaw (1875 -1958). Composed in 1923 as a commission for the annual festival of the Rochester Diocesan Church Choirs Association in Canterbury, England, it is a festival anthem of praise and exultation that has become popular in American churches. Shaw, known for his church music compositions, studied under C.V. Stanford at the Royal College of Music with colleagues Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Throughout his career in church music he served St. Mary's Primrose Hill and St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London. He edited numerous musical resources in the early 20th century and was responsible for the popularization of many now-standard hymns, such as BUNESSAN ("Morning Has Broken"), "For All the Saints," and "Come Down, O Love Divine."

Organist's footnotes (Hidden Treasures): I continue to explore reams of music previously owned by Anita Coulthard, former organist at Emory & Henry College, who graciously donated her entire organ library to me last year. Here are some lesser-known treasures from her collection.

Henry Ernest Geehl (pronounced Gale; 1881-1961), was an English pianist, conductor, composer, and arranger. He toured as a pianist and theater conductor and, in 1919, joined the staff of the Trinity College of Music, where he taught until a year before his death. He also became music editor for the Edwin Ashdown and Enoch publishing firm. "Lament" (prelude), published by Ashdown in 1958 and presumably composed around that same time, is reminiscent of a musical style prevalent 50 years earlier.

Everett Titcomb (1884-1968) was a 20th-century American composer of sacred choral and organ music who contributed a vast number of works for the Episcopal Church. During his lifetime, he was internationally recognized as a composer of sacred music. Titcomb was among a group of pioneers who promoted early music, particularly plainchant and Renaissance polyphony. He traveled to Europe a number of times during his early career to research this repertoire. His "Wedding Day" (offertory) is subtitled "Improvisation on Barnby's 'O Perfect Love'" and dedicated "for my cousin Susan Titcomb," presumably on the occasion of her wedding.

Henry Purcell (1659 -1695) is generally considered one of the greatest English composers. His fantasias are cornerstones of the modern viol consort repertory. His "Fantasy on One Note" (postlude) was composed in 1680. The tenor viol part literally consists of one note, middle C, tied over from measure to measure for the entire piece. One imagines Purcell writing this part for a beginning viol player, allowing him or her to play with the experienced violists. In this organ transcription by C.F. Simkins, the one note is played by a pencil wedged into the keys.

Sunday, August 11

9:00 a.m.       Worship, Fellowship Hall

10:10 a.m.     Sunday School

11:00 a.m.     Worship, Sanctuary

4:00 p.m.       Churchwide Celebration, Church Lawn

Monday, August 12

7:00 p.m.       Building & Grounds Comm., Room 117

7:00 p.m.       Worship Comm., Room 123

Tuesday, August 13

10:00 a.m.     Staff Meeting, Room 117

10:00 a.m.     Morning Prayer Group, Conf. Room

6:00 p.m.       Venture Crew 3, Room 165

7:00 p.m.       Boy Scout Troop 3, Scout Wing

Wednesday, August 14

4:00 p.m.       Finance Comm., Room 117

5:00 p.m.       Baby & Toddler Care, Rooms 34 - 37

5:30 p.m.       Fellowship Dinner, Fellowship Hall

6:00 p.m.       Wednesday Night Kids

6:00 p.m.       Middle School Gathering

6:00 p.m.       High School Small Groups

6:15 p.m.       Handbell Practice, Room 212

6:20 p.m.       Adult Learning Program, Fellowship Hall

7:15 p.m.       Sanctuary Choir, Room 202

7:15 p.m.       Worship Team, Fellowship Hall

Thursday, August 15

7:00 a.m.       Men's Bible Study, Parlor

12:00 p.m.     Noon Bible Study, Room 117

6:30 p.m.       Troop Game Night, Scout Hall

Friday, August 16

12:00 p.m.     Student Hiking Event, Laurel Falls

Saturday, August 17

10:30 a.m.     Kids Start Your Bikes, Church Parking Lot

Church Officers
Class of 2019	Class of 2020	Class of 2021
ELDERS
Anna Booher	Nancy Allerton	Ann Abel
Lee Galliher	Rebecca Beck	Randy Cook
Pete Holler	David Hyde	John Graham
Han Ong	Jordan Pennington	Katie McInnis
Pete Stigers	Jerry Poteat	John Vann
DEACONS
Sujean Bradley	Blake Bassett	Fred Harkleroad
George Linke	Rhonda Comer	Matt Kingsley
Greg Roberts	Ron Fox	Lisa McClain
Nate Sproles	Brenda Lawson	Drew Rice
Bill Whisnant	Barbara Thompson	Joyce Samuel
TRUSTEES
Nancy Cook	Peggy Hill	Jack Butterworth